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We marched over to Britannica.com to hunt for clues. First, we learned about ink in the good old days, circa 2500 BC. Back then, ink was comprised of various colored juices and exotic extracts including alizarin, indigo, pokeberries, cochineal, and sepia. Much later, in 1772, the first patent was issued in England for making colored inks. In the 19th century, chemical drying agents appeared, giving rise to a wide variety of pigments. Then things got complicated At the beginning of the 20th century, ink-making became a complex chemical-industrial process. The manufacture of modern ink takes into account dozens of factors, including "color, opacity, transparency, brilliance, lightfastness, surface
hardness, pliability, wettability, purity, and odourlessness." Goodbye, sepia! Hello, methyl alcohol! Inks for low-speed letterpress printing (the process usually used in book production) are made up of of carbon black, a heavy varnish, and a drier to reduce the drying time. Most pen inks incorporate those three main ingredients in different ratios. Intaglio (i.e. -- cartoon) inks are composed of petroleum naphthas, resins, and coal-tar solvents. Still curious? Check out a site about calligraphic inks. We also came across a nice resource about vintage fountain pens. Finally, ink-stained youngsters may be interested in The Merry
Stamper, a page devoted to rubber stamps.
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